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Having first come to Quakerism 10 years ago, I have served as Friend in Residence at Friends Meeting at Cambridge since 2001. Like other Quakers (the informal name by which Friends are most commonly known), I sense that there is "that of God in everyone," that the Divine "is self-revealing and inwardly present wherever a human life is open and receptive." While some Cambridge Quakers are Christian, others are not; many of us incorporate the insights of other religious traditions as we pursue deeper connections with the Divine and with others.

Friends Meeting at Cambridge is associated with Quakerism's liberal tradition—a tradition that maintains that the Divine is immediately accessible within each person and so avoids reliance upon formal creeds, established rituals, and ordained clergy. Quakers believe that spiritual writings as well as the teachings and examples of others can turn individuals to a Divine Presence within themselves, but we maintain that it is one's own openness and surrender to that Inner Presence, one's actual experience of the Beyond Within, that yields true spiritual development.

My longstanding interests in social ministry and in pacifism, as well as a growing sense of the need to "be still", led me to Quakerism; the strong sense of spiritual community I found has sustained me ever since. During my early years as a Quaker, I was especially moved by one Quaker who wrote that "the life rooted and grounded in the Presence … lies beyond seeking. It arises in being found." As Friend in Residence, I enjoy meeting with others who wish to learn more about Quakerism or who wish simply to consider the spiritual life.